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Green tech finds (12/30/10)

For our last green tech finds of the year, we’ve got some predictions (of course), as well as new thoughts on tobacco, and high praise for white roofs.

Green tech predictions: IBM’s fifth annual “Next Five in Five” list of tech predictions has four items with a green bent, including much more efficient “breathing” batteries, and environmental data collection from all of us via our phones and other devices. (via Information Week)

The one-minute car battery switch: Electric vehicles take hours to recharge… so EV infrastructure developer Better Place envisions “switching stations” where depleted batteries can be swapped out (quickly) for a fresh one. Watch it above…

Tobacco — the next energy crop: Tobacco may get a reputation makeover as a non-food source of biofuel, as well as a source of a virus that could play a role in next-generation energy storage. (via Energy Business Daily)

No more wind in the Pickens Plan: Citing cost differentials, oilman T. Boone Pickens has dropped wind energy from his “Pickens Plan,” focusing completely on natural gas use for transportation. (via Triplepundit)